Expect electricity problems for at least a year: Eskom

[ponder]

Call me selfish, but why t f should I suffer with other countries when the electricity resources are generated here in South Africa? !

Contractual obligations & severe penalties.

 

[Fulcrum29]

Contractual obligations & severe penalties.

/Forgot the "best effort" clause

 

[jansdejager]

/preps the braai

 

[Chris.Geerdts]

Hehe.

You know, the achievements then are all the more amazing when you remember that it happened in Africa. With all our problems and issues and
deficits and "Spoories mentalities", the old ESCOM/EVKOM was an astonishing achievement.

We've been coasting on the momentum built up by that generation.

By the end of the '80s, after nearly 100 years of power reticulation in South Africa, Eskom had only managed to connect 1/3 of its citizens.

A decade later, another 1/3 was connected (ie doubling the numbers in 10 years).

If there was ever an astonishing achievement for Eskom, it was in the '90s

 

[Chris.Geerdts]

Medupi, in Limpopo, was expected to be online by December 24.

“We may not meet the target, and could see Medupi coming online in early January

Interesting how the possibility of another slip in the Medupi critical timeline is thrown in there. On 24 December, Eskom will quietly admit the deadline has slipped, whilst everyone is focused on holiday plans.

 

[MisanoRed]

*deep sigh*

 

[Arthur]

By the end of the '80s, after nearly 100 years of power reticulation in South Africa, Eskom had only managed to connect 1/3 of its citizens.

A decade later, another 1/3 was connected (ie doubling the numbers in 10 years).

If there was ever an astonishing achievement for Eskom, it was in the '90s

Yes, indeed - done with the spare capacity built up in the 80s. We actually had a serious over-capacity problem then. Which is why some stations were mothballed.

 

[Baba Vakai]

And they say we not in Africa! HA

 

[Sinbad]

By the end of the '80s, after nearly 100 years of power reticulation in South Africa, Eskom had only managed to connect 1/3 of its citizens.

A decade later, another 1/3 was connected (ie doubling the numbers in 10 years).

If there was ever an astonishing achievement for Eskom, it was in the '90s

Nope, it's not an astonishing achievement at all, considering only a half-job was done.
The politically expedient, visible portion (delivery to end user) was done, with zero attention to the actual important stuff - the underlying infrastructure.
Not sure if the cANCer thought that electricity just appeared out of thin air (maybe that's why they want an investigation into lightning?)

 

[kingrob]

2015 will be the year that our economy takes a huge nose dive and people get fired left, right and centre.

So much to look forward to!! Yay!

 

[buka001]

When did they start with Medupi and Kusile?

When my ol'man was building powerstations in the 80s, they used to get 6 sets up and running within 8 years of sod turning.

I guess project management and engineering is in a severe decline.

I have to take exception to this comment. I am personally quite tired of all the assertions that the contractors are largely to blame for the delays at Kusile and Medupi.

First of all Kusile and Medupi are the largest coal fired power stations ever built in South Africa. Kusile will be 1.6 times larger than Duvha power station. It will also have a far more complex and modern Boiler than any power station in South Africa. So comparing the duration taken at Duvha, to Kusile is somewhat disingenuous. The closest power station we have in terms of capacity to that of Kusile is Kendal. Kendal is about 85% of the size of Kusile. It took 11 years to get Kendal online (1982 to 1993).

Kusile started in 2009. I expect it to be completed around 2020-2021, which will be 11-12 years, which is roughly the same time taken to build Kendal. So not that far off.

The same contractors that delivered the impressive World Cup Stadia (and related infrastructure) on time are the same ones building the power stations.

Something that should also be noted is that all the previous power stations (barring the latter half of Majuba) were built during Apartheid, when there were no restrictive labour laws in place. If you wanted to fire someone, you could. Someone was misbehaving? They would take them to a corner and slap them silly and you could all get along. The workplace was ruled with fear and subsequently you had a very dedicated work force, who feared that they may loose their job anytime.

Fast forward to now, where at Kusile it was practically impossible to fire someone. I had a labourer climb into a crane and operate it. We had a photograph of him doing so. At the hearing, the external guy threw the case out as he claimed, how does he know we did not photoshop the picture to implicate the guy. I mean really?

In 2011 and 2013 we had a series of strikes. The result was no labourer lost their job. They were given across the board increases and other incentives. No marked improvement in productivity was realised. In fact in terms of average civil construction productivity rates, at Kusile we are experiencing a productivity rate of 20% of what we get on our other projects outside of Kusile. Eksom has created a climate within Kusile where one can expect significant compensation, without giving anything in return.

We went through hell. I have on four occasions, literally dropped everything and run for my life from 5000+ angry striking workers. They have thrown stones at us. They have burnt down our offices, they have looted our offices, they have burnt out vehicles and other plant and simply just vandalised other infrastructure to blackmail Eskom into giving them more money.

Eskom implemented some of the strangest policies I have ever seen in the industry. Each and every step in the construction process had to have its usual quality inspection at the requisite hold point. However, Eskom required us to stop and then wait 4 hours before they would come and inspect the item. Never in the civil construction industry has this been a factor. It was not allowed for in the schedule or costing forecasts.

To give you an idea of the impact that this had, is that from 2010 to Feb 2014 for the Boiler Civil works (i.e. all the concrete works that support the main boiler steel and piping structures), we completed THREE of the 6 Units . In Feb 2014, we successfully argued with Eskom to remove this time restriction. From Feb 2014 to today, we completed the last THREE. Yes, it took us 3.5 years to do the first three units. It took us one year to do the last three. Substantial impact, that the four hour rule had on time!

So I take extreme exception to your assertions. The contractors at Kusile (and Medupi) have been thrown into a pit of fire and brimstone, forced to face a client who too often wants to please the country with unreal expectations, than to sit down and face the realities of what they want and how it will be achieved. In so doing they created the most apathetic labour force the construction industry has ever seen.

 

[xumwun]

2015 will be the year that our economy takes a huge nose dive and people get fired left, right and centre.

So much to look forward to!! Yay!

I don't know about fired, retrenched maybe.

 

[Sinbad]

I have to take exception to this comment. I am personally quite tired of all the assertions that the contractors are largely to blame for the delays at Kusile and Medupi.

First of all Kusile and Medupi are the largest coal fired power stations ever built in South Africa. Kusile will be 1.6 times larger than Duvha power station. It will also have a far more complex and modern Boiler than any power station in South Africa. So comparing the duration taken at Duvha, to Kusile is somewhat disingenuous. The closest power station we have in terms of capacity to that of Kusile is Kendal. Kendal is about 85% of the size of Kusile. It took 11 years to get Kendal online (1982 to 1993).

Kusile started in 2009. I expect it to be completed around 2020-2021, which will be 11-12 years, which is roughly the same time taken to build Kendal. So not that far off.

The same contractors that delivered the impressive World Cup Stadia (and related infrastructure) on time are the same ones building the power stations.

Something that should also be noted is that all the previous power stations (barring the latter half of Majuba) were built during Apartheid, when there were no restrictive labour laws in place. If you wanted to fire someone, you could. Someone was misbehaving? They would take them to a corner and slap them silly and you could all get along. The workplace was ruled with fear and subsequently you had a very dedicated work force, who feared that they may loose their job anytime.

Fast forward to now, where at Kusile it was practically impossible to fire someone. I had a labourer climb into a crane and operate it. We had a photograph of him doing so. At the hearing, the external guy threw the case out as he claimed, how does he know we did not photoshop the picture to implicate the guy. I mean really?

In 2011 and 2013 we had a series of strikes. The result was no labourer lost their job. They were given across the board increases and other incentives. No marked improvement in productivity was realised. In fact in terms of average civil construction productivity rates, at Kusile we are experiencing a productivity rate of 20% of what we get on our other projects outside of Kusile. Eksom has created a climate within Kusile where one can expect significant compensation, without giving anything in return.

We went through hell. I have on four occasions, literally dropped everything and run for my life from 5000+ angry striking workers. They have thrown stones at us. They have burnt down our offices, they have looted our offices, they have burnt out vehicles and other plant and simply just vandalised other infrastructure to blackmail Eskom into giving them more money.

Eskom implemented some of the strangest policies I have ever seen in the industry. Each and every step in the construction process had to have its usual quality inspection at the requisite hold point. However, Eskom required us to stop and then wait 4 hours before they would come and inspect the item. Never in the civil construction industry has this been a factor. It was not allowed for in the schedule or costing forecasts.

To give you an idea of the impact that this had, is that from 2010 to Feb 2014 for the Boiler Civil works (i.e. all the concrete works that support the main boiler steel and piping structures), we completed THREE of the 6 Units . In Feb 2014, we successfully argued with Eskom to remove this time restriction. From Feb 2014 to today, we completed the last THREE. Yes, it took us 3 years to do the first three units. It took us a year to do the last three. Substantial impact, that the four hour rule had on time!

So I take extreme exception to your assertions. The contractors at Kusile (and Medupi) have been thrown into a pit of fire and brimstone, forced to face a client who too often wants to please the country with unreal expectations, than to sit down and face the realities of what they want and how it will be achieved. In so doing they created the most apathetic labour force the construction industry has ever seen.

I get your point, but I was talking holistically (industry wide, end to end). Not about isolated pockets of excellence in the sea of mediocrity that is the SA labour force.

 

[buka001]

I get your point, but I was talking holistically (industry wide, end to end). Not about isolated pockets of excellence in the sea of mediocrity that is the SA labour force.

Eskom have lost a massive amount of capacity in terms of engineering and project management skills. Some of the field engineering guys (especially the Geotechnical Department) were appalling. Had absolutely no clue about the field in which they purportedly practice.

 

[Arthur]

The contractors at Kusile (and Medupi) have been thrown into a pit of fire and brimstone, forced to face a client who too often wants to please the country with unreal expectations, than to sit down and face the realities of what they want and how it will be achieved. In so doing they created the most apathetic labour force the construction industry has ever seen.

Eskom have lost a massive amount of capacity in terms of engineering and project management skills. Some of the field engineering guys (especially the Geotechnical Department) were appalling. Had absolutely no clue about the field in which they purportedly practice.

Thanks for that insight, buka001.

What a sorry catalogue of the way things fall apart when the State foists loopy social-engineering policies on organisations that have to achieve real engineering results in the real world. Your story makes complete sense to me.

Employing incompetents and inexperienced professionals in these projects is so irresponsible that it comes close to sabotage, in my view. And imposing restrictive conditions unrelated to budget or engineering on contractors is outrageous.

I remember a previous Eskom - maybe it's the ESCOM/EVKOM of yore - that also had many excellent people. I know three senior engineers from then, one was Polish. Some relatives were at major contractors delivering plant. Of course any organisation has its share of idjuts, but there were also people who knew how to work with the contractors and suppliers who delivered the major engineering.

It's so sad to see Eskom being destroyed by the same State policies that are hurting so many others as well.

And let me say again that I am not against Affirmative Action or even Black Advancement. Our society has a debt of justice to pay to those prevented by the State from freely selling their labour under the previous regime. All else being equal, by all means prefer the Black candidate, because immoral laws under the previous regime unjustly prevented him from getting the job. Discriminate in favour of the Black Man if there is equal competence. But do not discriminate when it comes to dealing with incompetence - the laws of physics cannot be trumped by political will.

 

[Chris.Geerdts]

Nope, it's not an astonishing achievement at all, considering only a half-job was done.
The politically expedient, visible portion (delivery to end user) was done, with zero attention to the actual important stuff - the underlying infrastructure.
Not sure if the cANCer thought that electricity just appeared out of thin air (maybe that's why they want an investigation into lightning?)

I'm talking about the 90s now. We entered the decade with a power surplus. Eskom had done the planning during the boom in the 70's and then started building. When the economy slowed down (for global reasons, but also due to Nationalist Party mismanagement in the 80s) we ended up with a massive surplus which Eskom management (then) were happy to link to the planned expansion. When the ANC took over, they inherited a huge national debt which they wanted to bring under control and they had other massive infrastructure deficits to fix (water, sanitation, housing, education, health etc).

What happened since the 90s (even from the late 90s) is, of course, another story and a disastrous one.

 

[Chris.Geerdts]

Eskom have lost a massive amount of capacity in terms of engineering and project management skills. Some of the field engineering guys (especially the Geotechnical Department) were appalling. Had absolutely no clue about the field in which they purportedly practice.

Hi Buka001 (and Arthur). Good discussion. Buka, I think you are right that there are some excellent project managers and contractors in the mix, but the overall point is about Eskom's mismanagement (which you reinforce) and then there's the added issue of the ANC/Hitachi scandal (which did have critical impact on Medupi.

Arthur - agree regarding the need for transformation but not so far as to put in unqualified individuals. Eskom identified and trained a number of top managers who went on to make their mark in other industries (MTN for example) and amass large personal fortunes in the process. It's a shame more were not retained.

 

[jansdejager]

Personally I think the SA govt should have built Medupi/Kusile in Zimbabwe where there is ample water, cheap and durable labour, and coal, in exchange for the fruit basket of unreciprocated favours we shower on Bob Macabre over there. Both units would have been online by now, NIA wouldn't have to be wasting million spying on the surrounding communities, it would be a stabilising force, etc, etc. We would probably get a wagging finger from Obama, but otherwise it's win-win.